The Shadow Within
by Iakko
Summary: Ian is just a normal boy, with dreams of becoming a Pokemon master. Oh, and he also has a strange power that he knows nothing about. Will Ian be able to learn and master his newfound power throughout his journey?
1. Chapter 1

Ari stopped packing her backpack when she heard my answer. She snapped her head up, her slightly curly brown hair going all over the place. "What do you mean, you haven't made your decision yet, Ian?" she said to me, with genuine concern in her voice. Her big blue eyes pierced stared straight through me, and I instantly got embarrassed.

"Well, it's just that it's such a hard choice, ya know," I shyly looked at my books, as I shoveled them one by one into my backpack. "On one hand, furthering my education and getting a noble job sounds like a great thing to do…" I look back up at Ari, "But at the same time, nothing seems cooler than becoming a real life pokemon trainer! Going off on my own, catching Pokemon, fighting Gym leaders, it all seems too good to be true!" I scratched my head, lining my fingers through my pitch black hair.

Ari shook her head at me. "That's because it IS too good to be true, Ian. You know that almost nobody actually becomes a successful Pokemon trainer." Ari looked determined to change my mind. I know her like the back of my hand, because we were born no more than two weeks apart. And when she sets her mind to something, she will not back down. "If you become a Pokemon trainer, there is absolutely no sustainable income! The only way you make money is by winning battles, which you can also LOSE and end up LOSING money! Ever wonder why there are so many criminal organizations in the world?" She leaned towards me, slamming her forehead into mine. "Because of trainers who couldn't make enough money through battling!"

I went back to staring at my backpack, which was fully packed but I pretended to fumble around with anyway. "Yeah, but I think it's worth a shot," I mumbled, ashamed that she had thought through my decision for me.

I should probably give a little bit of backstory on this situation that we have going on. My name is Ian, and I'm ten years old. I live here in Twinleaf Town, with my mom and dad. It's a pretty small town, but I really like it here because it's a really tightly knit community. At the end of the school year, when a person turns ten, they have a pretty big decision to make. Either you can continue school, and become some noble profession like a doctor or a teacher or something, or you can get your starter Pokemon and become a Pokemon trainer. Right now, it's late May, and the school year ends at the end of next week. I still haven't made my decision on what I want to do!

Ari spoke up again. "You should stay in school with me, Ian. That way, we can both be safe from living like a gypsy and can get a decent education! It's not like kindergarten through fourth grade did all that much for our brains, anyway." She was determined to end this now, and bring me along with her.

"Alright, whatever you say Ari." I said, with clear sarcasm lathered over every word.

"Come on Ian, don't give me that." She looked disgusted with me.

I decided to laugh a little to lighten the mood. "Haha, don't be so serious. Just give me some time to think, okay?"

"Alright…" Ari began to pack her backpack again. We had just gotten out of school, and today is a Wednesday. We have to have our final decision in by Friday morning.

Ari and I walked out of the school doors, and began to walk home. A few minutes went by, with not much more than awkward silence. We exchanged a few words here and there, but nothing noteworthy. That is, until we suddenly heard an explosion coming from a nearby forest.

"What was that?!" Ari shouted. Panic washed over her face, and she turned pale.

I tried to stay calm. "I'm not sure!" I said. "I'm going to go check it out!"

I began to run towards the forest. As if on cue, I heard peculiar sounding screaming coming from the area of the explosion.

"Sounds like a Pokemon…" I muttered to myself.

"Ian, STOP! You're going to get yourself hurt!" Ari yelled. Her voice was shaky, but she seemed genuinely concerned for my safety.

The Pokemon cries continued. "Don't worry!" I say, still running towards the explosion, which now turned into a roaring fire. "You go get help! I'll scope out the situation!"

"A-Alright!" Ari shouted back. She ran off towards our neighborhood, probably to go get our parents.

I continued to run towards the forest. The cries grew nearer and nearer, until I arrived in a small canopy in the forest. I saw a large fire surrounding two Pokemon, which seemed to be fighting. Well, I shouldn't say fighting, because it appeared to be rather one-sided. I got a little closer. I could just make out a Turtwig, totally scalded and being pinned to the ground by a Zweilous. It must've used dragon rage or something, which would explain the massive explosion and the burn markings all over the Turtwig. It looked like that Turtwig was about to be the Zweilous' next meal.

I didn't know what to do. "There is no way that I can stop this!" I thought to myself. I took a few steps forward, not thinking at all what my actions were doing. "You're going to get yourself killed, just like Ari said!" I scream in my head, trying to stop myself. The two Zweilous heads begin to fight each other over their freshly caught prey.

I feel something come up from inside me. Something felt like it had been awakened at that moment. I take another step forward, and I'm right in front of the fire. The Zweilous recognizes that I am there, and looks at me for a second. It's two heads the begin to back off, with fear struck in their eyes. I look down at my body. My entire body was emitting some sort of black smoke, and I was seeing a red glow emitted off of my torso, which seemed to come from my eyes. My eyes have always been a maroon color, but it appears that they are GLOWING.

I look back at the Zweilous, who took its paw off of the Turtwig. It began to bear its fangs at me, looking to fight. They aren't exactly known for their "flight" response, after all.

I am no longer thinking. I let this new instinct that has seemingly awoken inside of me take over.

I dash through the fire, not even flinching. I run straight at the Zweilous, and punch it right where the two heads connect to the body. I must've moved so fast that it didn't even have time to react, because it didn't appear to even try to defend against me. I punched it so hard that it flew back past the canopy, and out of sight.

I stand up straight, and take a look around. I must've run so fast that the wind extinguished the fire, because there was nothing more than embers left. I looked down at my body. All of the smoke from my body and light coming from my eyes appeared to be gone. There was actually no trace that anything out of the ordinary had happened to me.

I looked down at the Turtwig. He was clearly very hurt by the Zweilous, because he had burn and scratch marks all over his body. He looked back up at me, in total shock of what he had just witnessed.

I laughed a little, then said "You're just as surprised as I am, bud. Are you okay?"

Turtwig's eyes began to water. It cried out, then attempted to get up. It was to injured to even stand.

I scooped him up, and hugged him tight. I'm surprised I could even lift him, because Turtwigs are notorious for being a little on the heavier side as far as small Pokemon go.

A few moments later, I heard rustling coming from the trees behind me. I turned around, half expecting another hostile Pokemon, but thankfully that was not the case. I saw Ari running towards me, along with both her and my mother.

"Ian, are you alright?" My mom questioned.

"What happened here?" Ari's mom asked.

"Why are you holding a wild Pokemon?" Ari stated, as if trying to scold me.

They were all talking too fast, and all at once. "Slow down guys," I said. "I'm doing alright, but this little guy isn't. There was a wild Pokemon attacking it, and I-" I stopped myself there. "I shouldn't tell them about what I did." I thought to myself. "That would cause a whole mess of problems and questioning that I don't know the answers to." After my pause to think, I restated what I was going to say. "There was a wild Pokemon attacking this Turtwig, but when I came here, it must've gotten scared and ran away. I couldn't make out what it was but that's not important right now." I looked at the Turtwig in my arms. It was quietly whimpering, but his agony was clear to everyone. "We gotta get this guy to a Pokemon center, right now!"

"Ok, there is one around a minute away," my mom said. "Let's hurry!"

"Alright!" everyone else collectively said. We began to run in the direction my mom pointed us to.

On the way to the Pokemon center, I thought to myself, "I think I've made my decision. I'm going to become a Pokemon trainer. On a long journey across the region, meeting new people and Pokemon, I might be able to figure out just what that thing inside of me is…"


	2. Chapter 2

Nurse Joy shook her head in disbelief. "Oh no, not another one," she said when we got to the Pokemon Center. "The Zweilous have been acting very strange lately. It's like they are migrating, but that type of pokemon isn't exactly known to migrate…"

"How many pokemon have you seen like this?" I asked her, while looking down on the bed at Turtwig. He seemed to be feeling a little better already due to the miraculous healing machines at the center.

"Well, let me think," Nurse joy put her hand on her chin and looked out the window. After a moment, she looked back at me. "I think we have had around five per month for the last few months. It hasn't happened before February though. Strange, isn't it?"

"I wonder what the cause could be…" Ari thought out loud, who has been next to me the whole time, gazing vacantly at Turtwig. She seemed to have her head up in the clouds, not that it was anything out of the ordinary for her.

After the Turtwig was fully healed, which only took about an hour or so thanks to the magic of technology that pokemon center's have, Ari and I decided to go home. On the way, Ari asked me: "What should we do with this Turtwig, Ian?" Ari asked me. It had been following us all the way home, and Ari seemed a little distressed about it.

"I think I'm going to keep it," I replied. "I have a pokeball that I can capture it with, and it would be a great starter for my pokemon journey."

"Say that last part again?" Ari looked as if I had insulted her. I repeated what I said.

"You're going on a JOURNEY? Didn't we already have this conversation about how you should stay in school with me?" She was visibly pissed. I could see a vein straining on her neck, and her face had turned bright red.

I tensed up. "Woah, Ari, calm down," I tried to say, but she started talking right in the middle of my speech.

"Are you joking? What on earth prompted you to want to go on a journey? I would think that you're experience with that Zweilous would make you NOT want to go on a journey!"

Turtwig was getting worried, and cowered behind my leg. "Ari, don't worry about it. I've finally made my decision, and I'm going to tell our teacher about it tomorrow," I said to her, desperately trying to keep my cool. Ari scares me sometimes, especially when she gets angry.

"What made you want to go?" Ari asked, still yelling. Some passersbys turned their heads towards us to try to figure out what all the yelling was about,

I looked down at the ground. "I don't know. It just came to me." I was only half lying. I did in fact know why I was going on the journey: because of the strange power I have. But I was telling the truth because it did in fact come to me without any notice.

Well, what I said must've shut Ari up, because we walked the rest of the way home without very much talking. When I got home, my mom was waiting for me.

"How's the turtwig?" she asked. She seemed to be genuinely concerned.

"It's doing a lot better. The pokemon centers are really amazing." I replied. I didn't really want to talk to anyone, so I began to head to my room. Turtwig was following closely behind me.

"And what about you?" my mom asked. "You must've been through quite a bit today."

I stopped moving while halfway up the stairs. "I'm alright," I said dully. "I think I just need some rest." I began heading upstairs again. My mom didn't question me any further.

When Turtwig and I got into my room, I collapsed onto my bed. It was the first opportunity I've had to be alone since I found out that I've got some sort of crazy shadow power, and it wasn't exactly sinking in very well.

Is it some kind of monster? Am I being inhabited? Am I the host for some demon? Am I some kind of demon? I had so many questions that filled my head at the exact same time, that I started to have a breakdown.

Turtwig came up onto my bed and nuzzled its beak-like muzzle against the side of my head. It appeared that he was trying to comfort me.

"Oh yeah, I don't even know if you are a boy or a girl," I said to the turtwig, who appeared to have not understood what I said, because it looked at me blankly. It's pretty hard to tell the gender of a pokemon, but you can usually tell by looking at their belly side. So, I lifted the turtwig up and pointed his belly side towards me. It didn't seem to know what I was doing, so it panicked and started flailing its feet.

"Yep, you're a boy," I said to him, as I put him down. He sighed of relief when I put him down. His adorable actions put my mind at ease, and I was able to calm down significantly. I was able to think a lot clearer, and I decided to try to remember the feeling that I had when I was using the strange shadow power.

I sat up on my bed, eyes closed, in a sort of meditative position. I thought of when I ran through the fire, and when I punched the Zweilous. The feeling of power, of speed, of strength. The feeling of the smoke... the… shadow…..sha…dow…..

Eventually I wasn't thinking at all. I was in some sort of deep meditative state. I opened my eyes. I slowly opened my eyes. I immediately noticed that my body was in the same state as it was before. The smoke-like substance engulfing me, and my eyes apparently glowing a bright red. It scared the shit out of me.

"AAAAAAHHH!" I let out a scream, and fell off my bed. I lied on the ground, shaking. The smokey stuff and eye-gloweyness was gone.

My mom bursted into my room, swinging the door with the strength of a machamp that won the Mr. Pokemon title ten years in a row. "Are you okay? What happened?" she shouted.

"Oh, it's n-nothing. I just fell off of my bed," I stammered. I began to get up.

"Be more careful! Dinner is going to be ready soon, so come down when you are ready." My mom left my room, and shut the door behind her.

I looked over at the clock. It appears that I was only in that meditative state for a mere two minutes. I looked down at Turtwig. He appeared to be amazed at what he saw, because he had an unbreakable stare cutting right through my soul. He was awestruck.

"What did it look like? Was it cool? Was it scary?" I asked Turtwig, as if he would warrant a response.

All that came out of him was a little "Wig!" because pokemon say their own names of they don't know how to actually speak.

I caught a wiff of what my mom was cooking downstairs, and I had a sudden realization that I was completely famished. I hadn't eaten since lunch at noon, and I think I can safely assume that going into that shadowey-state is pretty taxing, due to my sudden exhaustion. I walked downstairs, hoping to refuel my system. Turtwig was close behind, as usual.


	3. Chapter 3

It was the end of the day, and I was called into my teacher's office. The whole day I was thinking nervously about this moment. I mean, is being a pokemon trainer really the right decision for me?

"No, there is no time for doubts," I think to myself. "The time for me to make my decision a reality has come."

I walk into my teacher's office. His name is Barry, and he looks pretty young for a teacher, with his long, blond hair and still-young face. He was a pokemon trainer before, but decided to go back to school once his journey was over to become a teacher. He has been my teacher at this little school in Twinleaf town for as long as I can remember.

I walk up to his desk. "So, Ian, what is it that you've chosen to do?" Barry asked.

"I've decided that I'm going to become a Pokemon trainer." I said to Barry, my voice still sounding a little unsure of what it was saying.

Barry looked surprised. "Are you sure? Your grades have always been top notch, and I think you would be more suited to getting a further education." Barry looked down at his paper, with every student's name and what they decided to do. My name was the last one that hadn't been chosen. He looked hesitant to put the check mark in the "Trainer" column.

Something inside of me sparked. I'm not sure what it was, but I felt as if confidence had just been poured on top of me. I realized that this is the right choice. I looked at him dead in the eye. "Yeah, I know. But this is something that I have to do."

Barry's eyes widened in surprise, then, after a few seconds, he chuckled. "Well, if that's the way you want it." He put the check mark under "Trainer" for my name. "There is no stopping the journey of a man after all. I can relate."

"Thanks, Mr. Barry."

"Don't mention it, bud. Good luck out there." As I turn to walk away, I swear I heard him mutter under his breath something like: "He's just like Lucas..."

I walked out of Barry's office, and out of the school. Outside the main doors, Ari was waiting for me.

"Oh Ian…" Ari came up to me and hugged me. "I know it was a hard decision, especially with me constantly hounding you." She appeared to have accepted the fact that we are going separate ways.

I hugged her back. "Yeah, but I think I made the right choice."

"I think you'll be a fantastic Pokemon trainer." She said. We then both let go.

"Well, let's walk home, shall we?" I said to her. "We could go play some video games or something to celebrate the end of the school year."

"Yeah, let's go."

And so we walked home.

* * *

"Ian, you're going to be late!" My dad shook me until I woke up.

I was shocked awake, surprised to see him. "Dad? What are you doing home? Shouldn't you be at work?"

"I got off today, so that I could see YOU become a real Pokemon trainer. But of you don't get out of bed, then I will have missed a day of work for nothing!"

"Ahh! Sorry! I'll get ready right away!" I scrambled to get out of bed, and slapped on my clothes as fast as I could. I wouldn't want to get my first Pokemon in my pajamas after all.

My parents and I drove down to the Pokemon Lab, over in Sandgem town. We could've walked, but I would've been late. When we got in the lab, there was a mass of people sitting down in rows and columns of chairs. We ended up arriving just in time, because Professor Rowan was about to give his speech to all new trainers. We quietly sat down in the back as the pokemon professor began to give his speech.

"Hello, ladies and gentleman. For those of you who do not know, I am Professor Rowan," The man said. His voice boomed throughout the room despite his elderly looks. He cleared his throat. "I am here to welcome each and every one of the students here who recently finished school into the world of being a trainer. I am going to inform you and your parents what you are going to be doing on your journey, how to live as a trainer, and everything else that a beginner trainer should know about becoming a trainer."

And so he talked. On and on and on. He began by mentioning the Pokedex, a high tech device that he has been working on for years that he wants us to fill up with data so he can make it available for everyone in the future. He then went on to talk about gyms, gym leaders, the elite four, and the champion. Those people are almost like the leaders of the region. The strongest trainers are the ones who govern and regulate our society, and they also help trainers to grow. He talked of the gym challenge, the objective being to beat all eight gym leaders in a region and eventually take on the elite four and champion. All of it was information that we knew, but he was required to say anyways.

One of my classmates in the front raised his hand. "Professor, what happens if someone beats the champion?" he asked.

People began to whisper to each other. "Defeat the champion? Who raised that kid?" "The champion is the strongest trainer in the region? How could anyone beat her?" "Is it even possible to beat the leader of our region?"

The professor's voice cut through the mumbling: "If you beat all eight gym leaders and defeat the elite four and champion, you have two options. Option number one is to replace the current champion and become the new champion." He looked up with a look that could cut through steel. "Option number two is to move onto another region, and attempt to defeat the champion there. This, of course, means beating that region's gyms and elite four as well."

The people around me started whispering started again. "Defeating two whole regions?" "That would take decades of training and travel!" "That's absurd!"

The professor cut through the white noise yet again. "If one is strong enough to defeat every single region, they will qualify to join the world champion tournament, which is held when the current world champion retires their position."

Absolute silence from everyone, although we were all thinking the same thing. "How could someone possibly become that strong?"

"I'm sorry, I got a little sidetracked there," Rowan said. "That information isn't important unless one of you becomes that strong, which is entirely possible. This class looks particularly promising to me. I'm sure you will all become very strong trainers."

We all began to ease up a little. The champion of Sinnoh is immensely strong, and it is unheard of anybody defeating her for as long as she has reigned. I think she has been champion for around six years now…

"Now, onto the next topic," the professor continued. "How many of you have already caught your own pokemon, and do not need me to give you a starter? Remember, you have to have caught it yourself and it cannot belong to anyone else."

I proudly raised my hand. I felt the pokeball that I had captured Turtwig in yesterday fit snugly in my left pants pocket. I already have my own pokemon that I can journey with, and I'm proud to have him.

"Good!" Rowan exclaimed. Those of you who need a starter, come up here. Everyone else, you are free to go start your journey!" Around half of the families filed out of the room, including mine.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," my dad said to me, after we were outside of the lab. "It's been great seeing you grow up. Go become an excellent trainer!"

"I'm sure you'll be great out there, Ian! We're rooting for you!" my mom exclaimed. She seemed to be tearing up a little.

Their goodbye seemed a little lackluster compared to many of the other families, who were still hugging and crying, especially because my decision was made pretty last minute compared to everybody else. It's almost as if my parents knew I would be choosing this path all along.

I suddenly begin mapping my route in my head. "Well, it would be good to get a head start on everybody else. I think everyone is going to be heading to Jubilife City. I should get there as soon as I can and figure out what I'm gonna do as far as where I'm going to live, what I'm going to eat, and where I'm going to train. It's best that I leave now, while almost everyone else is still goodbying." I never knew that I had this good of planning skills.

I run forward towards route 202. "Well then, I'm off!" I gleefully shout at my parents.

"Goodbye!" they reply in unison.

* * *

The feeling of running on the route, a light breeze running across my skin, the scent of wild grass and pokemon filling the air, it's all to die for. I've only been on my journey for a few minutes, and I already feel free as a pidgey.

It was all short lived. I felt something inside of me. Something spoke to me. No, something scream at me. It screamed "DANGER!" I was under attack. I felt it again. The shadows, consuming me. Without even knowing what I'm doing, I feel myself darting forward towards some tall grass. I reach out my fist. It's covered in a black smoke. I enter the tall grass, and I get a glimpse of… Ari?!

I pull back my fist, and end up fully body slamming into her. I hear her screech, "EEEEEEEK!" as we tumble back, about twenty feet.

After we slide back, I sit up. "Wh-wh-what are you?" Ari stammers, her face drowned in horror. Her skin turned into a ghostly white, and her eyes looked as wide as dinner plates.

I look down. I'm still covered in the shadowey stuff. I utter a scream of my own and fall down, causing it to dissipate into nothingness.

"Ian, what on EARTH was that?" Ari yelled, still very afraid.

I looked at her grimly. "Walk with me to Jubilife. I've got some explaining to do."

* * *

 _Author's note: Thank's so much for reading this far into my story! I know that I'm pretty inexperienced with writing, and that my story can be clunky at times, but I can already feel myself improving, which is an amazing feeling. I'm pretty proud of this chapter, and I think it's the one I've put the most time and effort into so far. But expect even greater things! I'm pretty excited to be bringing this story to life, and I've got great plans for it. Thanks again for reading, and stay tuned!_


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